Amy Smolens is providing daily updates from the Tour de Georgia, in addition to her duties with the TV crew producing the coverage of the race. below are her notes from Day 1.

This morning before the start of the Dodge Tour de Georgia in Augusta I was able to talk to a fairly relaxed Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis). Last year he had bookended the race with victories, winning the 1st and 7th stages here, so I asked him about the goals for both him and his team in this year's edition: "I think the first 2 stages are the best for Health Net - Maxxis. Hopefully we can repeat what we did last year, win the first stage to take the pressure off the team and race a little looser throughout the week. You know the level here is just so high, it's hard to be too confident, but we have a great chance between myself, Greg Henderson and Ivan Dominguez. I think one of us hopefully will be feeling good. The finishing circuits in Macon are very, very tough. Last year I had to pull out everything I had to come through (Stage 1 was from Macon to Milledgeville and back to Macon) so it's gonna be a tough day for sure."

He talked about the addition of Cuban sprinter Dominguez (from the Colavita team) to Health Net-Maxxis: "I think what it is, it's more insurance. If I'm not feeling well we can easily go to Ivan and have as good a chance to win, maybe even better. So it's just insurance. We get along really well, we're honest with each other so if one of us is feeling better than the other we'll reverse roles. It's a great insurance policy."

Mario Cipollini, whom Gord beat mano a mano in last year's final stage, isn't here in Georgia, so who are the sprinters to watch out for? "There are a few good European guys. René Haselbacher from Gerolsteiner, (Danilo) Napolitano from LPR and Robbie Hunter especially from Phonak - he's won a couple of big races this year. Any one of those guys can win today, of course Juan José Haedo from Colavita, so we have our hands full, for sure."

Gord knows his stuff - the man he tipped as the favourite, South African Robbie Hunter, won the field sprint over Jelly Belly-Pool Gel's Ben Brooks and the LPR duo of Michele Maccanti and Napolitano. Fraser finished in 1:03 down )in a group of 10 including Dominguez) in 87th place, but his Kiwi teammate Henderson finished 5th and is tied for 3rd in the points competition. Gord talked about his day in the saddle: "It was a hard day, I wasn't feeling well at the start. I did the first bonus sprint, but after winning (the field sprint for 2nd - TIAA-CREF's Dan Bowman was out on a solo break) it was clear I was really suffering pretty bad gastro. Anytime I'd go hard I'd fight to keep it down. So we switched tactics after the first sprint to ride for Greg Henderson. Greg was 2nd in the next two sprints, using me as a decoy, and we tried setting him up for the finale. It was his first road race after being on the track so this was pretty much uncharted territory. We were pretty close to getting the leadout together but at this level you've got to be pretty close to perfect to win. If Ivan or I feel good we have a chance tomorrow. This was one of the longer days I've had on the bike - some serious health issues - hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow."

Geoff Kabush - yes, Geoff Kabush - was the top Canadian finisher today, placing 12th. After winning the Sea Otter Classic Mountain Bike Stage Race Sunday, he's teaming up with MTB rival Trent Lowe along with 6 roadies on the Jittery Joe's - Kalahari squad here at the Dodge Tour de Georgia. I asked him about the transition from off-road to road and his expectations here: "We'll I've had a lot of success so far on the mountain bike but I've really been looking forward to this race all year with Jittery Joe's-Kalahari. Yeah, Sea Otter was great, I was really happy with the win there coming from behind. Me and Trent both caught the redeye out Sunday night so we were both a bit tired yesterday but got some sleep and it was nice today, we just kind of rolled through most of the day. A nice hard finishing circuit with cobbles kind of suited me so I was able to roll up to the front and stay out of trouble, so it was a nice day."

What stages is he looking forward to? "We had a training camp out here at the end of February so we got to check out the mountains and I'm obviously looking forward to that, riding in the mountains, along with Trent. You know I haven't done a big road race like this for a long time so I really have no idea how it's gonna go but I think the time trial (Thursday) will be a good check to see how I stack up and obviously the mountains will be good for me."

What will it be like duking it out in the mountains with the likes of Lance Armstrong, Bobby Julich and the others who have been over in Europe, the best in the world? "Yeah, it's exciting, it's definitely gonna challenge me and hopefully that takes my riding to the next level."

Wednesday's Stage 2 should be another stage for Gord Fraser and the sprinters, 122.7 miles from Fayetteville to Rome. Last year's stage to Rome ended with the same finishing circuits as this year will and, surprisingly, was won in a field sprint by Armstrong. Dominguez, now Fraser's teammate, placed second and took the Yellow Leader's jersey.

Extra added tidbit: In a bit of undesirable excitement our crew car (NOT a Dodge) had a mechanical (unfortunately, unlike the cyclists, we have neither mechanics traveling with us nor spare vehicles,) so cameraman Nat and I were stranded on the road south of Thomson, Georgia. We weren't on the route and not near the finish...not near anywhere we needed to be. We got the car towed to Enterprise and said "good riddance" to that. After sitting at the side of the road for over an hour, a kindly Sheriff took us in and we spent time in the McDuffie County Law Enforcement Center in Thomson - not everyone can say they've been there: Photo. We were still 106 miles from the finish in Macon and getting to the finish on time wasn't looking promising. But the Sheriff drove us 45 miles west where we were met by a Dodge Tour de Georgia volunteer who ferried us to Macon. We managed to make it to the finish by the skin of our teeth, literally arriving as the peloton entered the first of three finishing circuits!

Navigators Stage 1 ReportCourtesy Navigators

The long awaited 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia kicked off today under warm sunshine and a slight breeze. The 6-day, 6-stage tour takes the racers to 10 cities throughout the northern regions of The Peach State. Today's stage from Augusta to Macon was a fairly straight shot of 208 kilometre (129 mile) over mostly flat terrain. The 158 racers representing 16 teams treated the large, and loud crowds in Augusta to 3 laps of a short circuit that afforded the many fans an opportunity to see and cheer for their favorite athletes, before heading out on the road to Macon.

The peloton must have missed out on the Jittery Joe's espresso café in the start village, since the first few hours of racing were covered at a snail's pace. The only real action was an attack by Dan Bowman (TIAA-CREF) at mile marker #9. His long solo escape was the news of the day as he stretched his lead to over 12:15 during his 110 mile breakaway. The uninterested pack was finally brought to life by Navigators' Jeff Louder shortly after the 3rd and final bonus sprint, when Jeff attacked and quickly gained 15-seconds. The subsequent chase resulted in a group of 16 riders breaking clear for a short stretch of freedom. The potentially dangerous break was soon reeled back in as the teams that wanted to see a sprint finish in Macon, began to mass at the front of the peloton.

As the speed increased, and the distance to the finish decreased, the gap to Bowman rapidly diminished. Along the way, he won all three bonus sprints before succumbing to the peloton with about 12-miles of racing remaining. More large crowds of cheering fans awaited the riders as they raced into Macon and completed three laps of a 2.1 mile circuit. Although several tried, they were unable to escape the charge and the finish was a blazing fast bunch gallop to the line. In a close finish, it was Robert Hunter (Phonak) taking the top spot followed by Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly-Pool Gel) and Michele Maccanti (Team LPR). The Navigators squad finished safely in the bunch with Chris Baldwin at the top of the list in 13th.